Method of decorating bottle and other caps



Sept. 7, 1937. 1. P. MACAULEY 2,092,463

I METHOD OF DECORATING BOTTLE AND OTHER CAPS Filed April 15, L956 12 INVENTOR 5X03 Jlfaau/ ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 7, 1937- OTHER cars Irving P. Macauley, Scarsdale, N. Y., assignor to Reynolds Metals Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware 1 r Application April 15, 19362 Serial No. 74,585

1 Claim.

The present invention has to do with the commercial decoration of coated metallic foil units employed as wrappers, bottle and other caps and for similar uses, especially those of a character adaptable to stacking one over the other, and more especially to the individual application of labels by means of wet adhesives to thecoated foil and then immediately stacking the coated foil units so that the wet label of each may be held firmly and uniformly in place by the foil units of the stack thereabove.

A more specific application of the invention is involved in the commercial decoration of deformable caps for bottles and the like, caps of the usual truncated conical form which at the present time, are, for the purposes for which theyare used, finished with lacquer and then stamped, embossed or otherwise impressed with a commercial label and in this way ordinarily limited to the presentation of a two-color decoration.

It is the purpose of the present invention to decorate the cap with a multi-color label or seal and to take advantage of the fact; that the shape of the caps adapts them to be telescoped or nested in a series in which they mutually contribute to uniform pressure upon, and support of the labels or seals of the caps as the latter dry.

It has been found that gummed, printed labels may be firmly united to the usual lacquer-finished caps by such a method with the result that the applied labels, firmly and uniformly held until dry, will neither curl at the edges nor come off. The usual stamped labels or seals can be printed in but two colors and while accomplished by machine, such machines operate but slowly, great care must be taken that the colors do not intermingle, and the embossing dies must be hand engraved and are costly. Paper labels or seals are produceable at very low cost, can be economically printed in a plurality of colors and, while they must be applied by hand, their reduced cost and their greatly improved appearance more than justify their use.

The method of this invention is best understood in the following detailed description thereof by reference to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, and in which,

Fig. 1 is a view in elevation showing a plurality of telescoped caps after application of gummed labels thereto.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a cap, its label and protecting film in separated relation adjacent a mandrel upon which each telescoped stack or nested series of caps is started, and

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through the adjacent portions of several caps of a series such as shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to the several figures of the drawing, the particular finish of the cap 10 of Figure 2 With which the method starts is immaterial insofar as the particular lacquer with which it is coated is concerned. Further, the precise shape, color characteristics and printing of the paper or other label or seal I I of said figure are not in any way controlling, though the reverse surface thereof is preferably gummed with animal glue since, in the initial step of its application, it is preferably wetted or moistened by placing the same on a felt covered moistening surface saturated with a special moistening solution of equal parts of glycerine and water. In this moistening solution, the glycerine acts to reduce or temper the amount of moisture which comes into contact with the glue to thus avoid waste by over-moistening as well as subsequent difficulty in handling of the labels or seals in their application to the caps.

To the surface of each lacquered cap 10, one of the moistened labels or seals H is applied in the desired position and then covered by a pro-' tecting film l 2 which may be a sheet of any suitable thin paper-like material which will cover at least the applied label or seal and prevent its adherence except to the outer surface of a cap to which it'is applied, and which also tends to main the seal in place when another can is telescoped thereover; without the films l2 the labels H would tend to be shifted from their original position when the caps are telescoped one over the other. Such a protecting film may be of tissue of various characters, glassine paper and the like, though for the purpose of this invention it is obvious it need not be transparent.

Moreover, while not necessarily so, the protecting sheet I2 may be of a size to cover the entire external surface of the cap l0 around which it is placed to cover the label or seal ll, so that it will protect the lacquered surface of the cap H] When a subsequently labeled cap is telescoped thereon.

After application of the label or seal' II to the external surface of a cap l0 and the placing of the protecting film i2 thereon, the cap is nested within a subsequently labeled cap of like character or, to put it differently, each cap is followed by the telescoping of the next labeled cap thereon. Thus the caps may be assembled in series or stacks, one of which is shown in Figure 1, the first cap being applied upon a tapering wood or other mandrel l3, so that in the stack each successively applied cap telescopes the preceding cap to at least a point where it firmly and uniformly presses the label or seal I I against the latter and holds the same while drying, in the manner illustrated in Figure 3.

In this manner the several caps of the stacx or series mutually contribute to the desired end so that the several labels will be constrained to dry without curling and in firm, uniform and lasting adherence with the surfaces to which they are applied, and it is obvious the caps may remain in this position of mutual protection until ready for use. When the caps are to be used, they may be easily separated and are then ready for application to bottles and the like by stripping off the protecting films l2.

What is claimed is:-

The method of decorating a series of deformable lacquered metallic foil caps of elongated,

truncated, conical form, which consists in applying to the lacquered surface of said caps gummed wetted labels having a plurality of colors, placing the first of said caps upon a mandrel, and covering its label with a protecting film adapted to protect the label and to maintain the same in position when another cap is telescoped thereover and then telescoping by means of manual pressure successive caps having wetted labels and protecting films applied thereto over said first cap and said mandrel, thereby obtaining a stack of mutually supporting and frictionally engaged telescoped caps upon a mandrel, in which form the labels upon the caps may be dried and the caps shipped, each of said successive telescoped caps overlying its respective preceding cap for at least the majority of its length.

IRVING P. MACAULEY. 

